Brazil
18.06.01
Urgent Interventions
Brazil: opening of the trial looking at the massacre of "Eldorado dos Carajas"
PRESS RELEASE
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) welcomes the forthcoming trial of the members of the military police responsible for the massacre of “Eldorado dos Carajas”. The massacre, which took place 5 years ago in Brazil and in which 23 persons were killed and several injured, has been but one example of the repression carried out by the Brazilian authorities against the movement of landless peasants. OMCT hopes that this trial, which is due to start on June 18th 2001, will be an important landmark in the fight against impunity in Brazil. Nonetheless, OMCT remains worried by the situation prevailing in the country where poverty, underdevelopment and a high concentration of land in the hands of a few goes hand in hand with serious and repeated violations of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights.
On June 18th 1996, the 4th battalion of the military police in Para State, attempted to stop a march of 2500 persons organised by the Movement of Landless Peasants (Movimiento Sem Terra, MST). During the confrontation, 23 persons were killed by the military police and several injured. The march had been organised to protest against the authorities’ non-observance of the time limit agreed-upon for the resettlement of 1500 families.
In August 1999, three years after the massacre, a first trial of 3 officers of the military police involved in the massacre has been qualified by the media and the human rights community as flawed, and has eventually been cancelled by the Para State Tribunal of Justice for non-conformity with the law.
Five years after the massacre, the trial, starting on June 18th 2001, represents therefore an important step in ending the impunity surrounding the massacre and bringing those responsible to justice, in what will be, OMCT hopes, a fair and impartial trial. The trial will involve the three commanders of the military police – Mario Colares Pantoja, Raimundo Lamendra and José Maria Oliveirs- 17 officials and 130 military police officers.
While OMCT welcomes the opening of the trial of those responsible for the massacre of “Eldorado dos Carajas”, which it hopes will constitute an important landmark in the fight against impunity in Brazil, it remains concerned about the overall human rights situation in the country.
The ongoing rural conflict opposing the landless peasants to the State and the latifundists depicts a situation where rural poverty, underdevelopment and a high concentration of land in the hands of a few goes hand in hand with serious and repeated violations of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights. The process of land reform, apart from being very slow, has so far fallen short of providing an adequate answer to the peasants’ land claims. Landless peasants’ assertion of their economic, social and cultural rights is generally met by violent repression. Between January and September 2000, 258 landless peasants were detained, and from January to November of the same year, 12 were assassinated. Violent evictions are commonplace.
Macroeconomic policies have not really lead to any improvement of the population’s economic, social and cultural rights, which in some instances have deteriorated. Wide inequalities in income distribution and regional disparities continue to prevail in the country.
In a recent report on Brazil, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, Nigel Rodley, indicated that torture remains widespread throughout the country and that it concerns most of the time “persons from the lowest strata of the society and/or of African descent or belonging to minority groups”.
OMCT strongly insists on the fact that as long as Brazil fails to address the problems of the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable, it is indirectly contributing, as far as exposure to the risk of torture is concerned, to the vicious circle of brutalisation that is a threat to aspirations for a life of dignity and respect for all.
For further information, please contact:
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Nathalie Mivelaz
8, Rue du Vieux-Billard
P.O. Box 21, 1211 Geneva 8
Tel.: (++41 22) 809 49 39
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) welcomes the forthcoming trial of the members of the military police responsible for the massacre of “Eldorado dos Carajas”. The massacre, which took place 5 years ago in Brazil and in which 23 persons were killed and several injured, has been but one example of the repression carried out by the Brazilian authorities against the movement of landless peasants. OMCT hopes that this trial, which is due to start on June 18th 2001, will be an important landmark in the fight against impunity in Brazil. Nonetheless, OMCT remains worried by the situation prevailing in the country where poverty, underdevelopment and a high concentration of land in the hands of a few goes hand in hand with serious and repeated violations of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights.
On June 18th 1996, the 4th battalion of the military police in Para State, attempted to stop a march of 2500 persons organised by the Movement of Landless Peasants (Movimiento Sem Terra, MST). During the confrontation, 23 persons were killed by the military police and several injured. The march had been organised to protest against the authorities’ non-observance of the time limit agreed-upon for the resettlement of 1500 families.
In August 1999, three years after the massacre, a first trial of 3 officers of the military police involved in the massacre has been qualified by the media and the human rights community as flawed, and has eventually been cancelled by the Para State Tribunal of Justice for non-conformity with the law.
Five years after the massacre, the trial, starting on June 18th 2001, represents therefore an important step in ending the impunity surrounding the massacre and bringing those responsible to justice, in what will be, OMCT hopes, a fair and impartial trial. The trial will involve the three commanders of the military police – Mario Colares Pantoja, Raimundo Lamendra and José Maria Oliveirs- 17 officials and 130 military police officers.
While OMCT welcomes the opening of the trial of those responsible for the massacre of “Eldorado dos Carajas”, which it hopes will constitute an important landmark in the fight against impunity in Brazil, it remains concerned about the overall human rights situation in the country.
The ongoing rural conflict opposing the landless peasants to the State and the latifundists depicts a situation where rural poverty, underdevelopment and a high concentration of land in the hands of a few goes hand in hand with serious and repeated violations of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights. The process of land reform, apart from being very slow, has so far fallen short of providing an adequate answer to the peasants’ land claims. Landless peasants’ assertion of their economic, social and cultural rights is generally met by violent repression. Between January and September 2000, 258 landless peasants were detained, and from January to November of the same year, 12 were assassinated. Violent evictions are commonplace.
Macroeconomic policies have not really lead to any improvement of the population’s economic, social and cultural rights, which in some instances have deteriorated. Wide inequalities in income distribution and regional disparities continue to prevail in the country.
In a recent report on Brazil, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, Nigel Rodley, indicated that torture remains widespread throughout the country and that it concerns most of the time “persons from the lowest strata of the society and/or of African descent or belonging to minority groups”.
OMCT strongly insists on the fact that as long as Brazil fails to address the problems of the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable, it is indirectly contributing, as far as exposure to the risk of torture is concerned, to the vicious circle of brutalisation that is a threat to aspirations for a life of dignity and respect for all.
For further information, please contact:
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Nathalie Mivelaz
8, Rue du Vieux-Billard
P.O. Box 21, 1211 Geneva 8
Tel.: (++41 22) 809 49 39